Joshua Metzler, a Hope College senior from Chelsea, has finished third in the state in the 1998 William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition.

Metzler's score of 47 out of 120 also earned 165th place nationally in the competition out of a total of 2,581 contestants. He participated in the contest as part of a three- member Hope team that also included seniors Benjamin Messer of Stilwell, Kan., and James Vanderhyde of Comstock Park. The team placed 78th nationally out of teams representing 419 institutions. The college's department of mathematics characterizes the Putnam Exam as "a notoriously challenging exam consisting of 12 mind-numbing problems." The competitors are undergraduate students from throughout the United States and Canada, who take the examination on their own campuses in December. The problems cut across many areas of mathematics, and are designed to test originality as well as technical competence. As one of the top three finishers among all students at Michigan colleges and universities, Metzler will be honored on Friday, May 7, during an awards banquet held by the Michigan Section of the Mathematical Association of America. The banquet will be held on the campus of Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. Metzler, who is a religion and chemistry major, competed in the exam during each of his four years at Hope. He was recently elected to the college's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, and during Hope's Honors Convocation on Thursday, April 30, received the college's Senior Biblical Prize. He is a member of the college's chapter of Mortar Board and the Pi Mu Epsilon mathematics honorary society. His activities also include varsity cross country and track, the College Chorus, the Fellowship of Christian Students and serving as a resident assistant. Metzler's immediate plan is to volunteer this summer with Jubilee Partners in Comer, Ga., a Christian community that works with refugees from war-torn parts of the world, teaching them English and helping them to find employment and housing in the Atlanta, Ga., area. He served with the organization during Hope's past two spring breaks through mission trips coordinated by the college's campus ministries office. He is the son Paul and Arlene Seelbach of Chelsea, and Michael and Marcea Metzler of Dexter. He is a 1995 graduate of Chelsea High School.